Who he is, and who is he?
by FractalGalaxies
Summary: Ixias stumbles upon the Miracle Glitch. Agent Smith is not the program we all know and love.
1. Chapter 1: The End

Something wasn't right.  
  
Something warm and wet was dripping down the side of his face.  
  
He raised a curious finger his face, and drew it away.  
  
Agent Smith promptly fell to his knees. 


	2. Chapter 2: Reckonings

"Thanks again, Max," she said with a parting smile as she opened the door of the bookstore into the icy, frigid winds. Max waved goodbye to his favorite customer as she exited the store and braved the fierce New York City street winds. Her hat blew off her head, tossing her long burgundy hair into a hurricane around her face. She almost stumbled over face first into a snow bank as she tried to steady herself in the wind. Once the wind tunnel effect died down and the hair ceased to swirl around her face, she trudged quickly through the slushy sidewalk to pick up her hat.  
"Frig," she muttered angrily as she brushed the snow off and placed the hat back on her head. Now all she had to do was hold herself together until she made it back to her loft. She tucked the bag under her arm and slung her purse over the shoulder, marching head first into the fierce February winds on her way back home.  
  
Minerva chortled excitedly as Ixias Majicka stumbled into her apartment, windblown, frosty and frazzled. She slammed the door behind her as the tiny kitten ran up to her legs and pounced playfully on her shoes. The poor little dear had been left all to herself for most of the afternoon, and the sight of her master meant only two things to her - food and fun. Ixias dropped her bags carelessly onto the sofa and bent down to scoop the little ball of fuzz into her arms. Minerva was more than willing.  
"How have you been my little baby? I missed you," she said in a lovey- dovey voice as she planted a big kiss on Minerva's petite forehead. The kitten purred happily and strove to free herself from her master's hands - it was time to eat, and lovin' could come later.  
She bounded from her hands and raced into the kitchen, where she promptly plopped her tush down, started directly at her owner and chortled.  
"Purrowl!" She bitched anxiously. Ixias rolled her eyes.  
"All you care about is eating you little fatass," she grunted at the kitten. "You haven't seen me in hours, and all you can donate is 10 seconds of your time before it's my duty to stuff your face? You pig." Ixias defeatedly walked into the kitchen and found a can of kitten food, emptying the smelly contents into her kitten's plastic bowl and placing it on the floor to the ebullient delight of Minerva.  
As Minerva chowed down, Ixias opened the refrigerator and found the leftovers of Monday's trip to The Green Garden - fettuccini alfredo. She popped the plate into the microwave and grabbed the plastic bag from the living room. She poured herself a glass of V8 Splash and sat down to enjoy her book over a meal of leftovers. The microwave dinged and she fetched the plate. Minerva sat fixedly on the floor, trying to peer over the edge of the table, all the while licking her lips.  
"I don't think so," Ixias growled, setting her food down. "You gorged yourself already, now beat it." The kitten took no notice of Ixias' warning, so she fixed the perfect innocent look on her face, widened her eyes, and purred softly. Ixias was wise to her ways and ignored the kitten. She eventually wandered off to find a place for a post-meal bathe, which usually ended up being Ixias' favorite recliner.  
Ixias ate while reading a book she had picked up at her beloved bookstore, The Rabbit Hole, on Avenue of the Americas. The shop owner, Max Bruckheim, had been friends with Ixias since the day she first ventured inside, 3 years ago that Christmas. She had been looking for some new and interesting fiction to light up her life, as well as some gifts to give to her co-workers, where Max readily suggested Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Ever since Max helped her find her new favorite author, she had been returning almost weekly to pick up new books.  
The book she held tight in her hands was written by someone with the odd penname of Rave Jersey. He had written several published articles on the philosophy of what is real and what is only considered to be real by the human mind, but this was his first actual book. The books title was One Pill, Two Pill, Red Pill, Blue Pill, and had caught Ixias' eye only when Max whispered to her the words that fluttered in her stomach and pulsed in her blood - "Are you ready for what you want to know?" 


	3. Chapter 3: Backlog 17

Backlog 17 Date: October 19th, 2003  
  
Ixias shot up in bed panting and heaving, still feeling the imprints of human hands on her shoulders and hearing the soft whispers in her ear. The blood was surging and raging through where the stranger's hands had once been on her body. In a half-conscious effort, she dashed to the bathroom and flung the switch on, standing apprehensively in front of the mirror.  
She tore down the collar of her nightgown, expecting to find bright red handprints on the pale flesh of her shoulders. The dim lights revealed nothing. Almost nothing.  
Her heart steadied and her breathing somewhat evened out at the first appearance of nothing out of the ordinary. Until she leaned closer. Upon intense inspection, Ixias' fears were deemed true, only reversed - there were, rather, white fingertip marks on the flushed red skin of her shoulders, only 4 of them barely visible.  
She wobbled backwards, a feeling of helpless and hopeless confusion churning at a dizzying rate throughout her body, from the hair follicles atop her scalp to the callused pads underneath her feet. She slumped back against the freezing cold wall, her body a burning source of questions, bewilderment, and chaos. What was going on? What was happening to her..  
  
She rose from the floor what felt like hours later, looking around the room through blurry and unfocused eyes in curious confusion, wondering why she was in the bathroom as opposed to her wonderfully soft and warm bed. She remembered what had happened.  
Ixias steadied herself slowly and made her wobbly way back into her bedroom. She stood momentarily, debating whether to go back to bed and pass off what had happened as a product of a half-asleep/half-awake state, or search the Internet for the answers to her thousand questions. She opted for the latter, feeling that she wouldn't have a chance to get back to sleep anyway.  
The computer hummed and blinked on, the monitor temporarily blinding her. Her eyes filmed over momentarily, a bright white aura lingering like sunspots, until her eyes focused. She quickly opened up her Internet browser and searched the Internet for websites detailing what was referred to her in her dream as "The Matrix."  
  
Dreamstate.  
  
She had been wandering aboard a metal ship ridden with cables, plugs, wires, tubes, tanks and switchboards. The ship was dark and musty, and smelled of sweat and rust. The cold, clammy and stale air pierced her skin realistically as she made her way down darkly winding tunnels and eventually came to the computer room, where the room was tinted a ghostly green. She crept forward slowly into the room before pausing at the front.  
Three computer monitors were switched on, with frighteningly eerie code spilling endlessly down the screen. Greens of all hues and contrasts lit the room in flickering waves. She sat at the chair in front of the monitor and narrowed her eyes in puzzlement. What the hell is this?  
Suddenly, a soft hand fell upon her shoulder. She froze like a deer in headlights, and debated for a split-second whether to turn around. If the stranger meant to kill her, she would probably be dead already. With that decided, she mustered all the bravery that she could and slowly turned around in the swivel chair, facing the person behind her.  
The man with his hand on her shoulder was strikingly and ruggedly handsome. His eyes blazed a deep greenish gray, enhanced and enchanted by the code flowing down the monitors. His dirty blonde hair was tussled about his head, almost neat in its disorder. He had a few mornings' stubble on his chin, and was dressed in well-worn working clothes.  
"So, we finally meet. My name is Jacob Floyd," he introduced himself, removing his hand and bowing before Ixias. "Your search has lead you here."  
"What search?" She asked curiously. "And how do you know of me?"  
"My group has been watching you for some time. Your path is a twisty one, Miss Majicka. It was only a matter of time before you came to your own rescue. And here you are, subconsciously aware of why and how." His riddles were already beginning to drive her mad.  
"What am I doing here, isn't this but a dream?" She asked nervously. Jacob flashed her a knowing smile.  
"Certainly, this is just a dream." He leaned back deviously, his smile widening. Ixias was not sure whether this person was a good or bad guy, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.  
"Of course, your definition of dream is as good as mine." He raised his eyes to her with an urgency. "You will soon learn of the truth on your own accords, and rightfully so. You remember, don't you? You remember the starry skies, and you will see them again soon.  
"It has been a gnawing since you saw it, Ixias. You buried that memory long ago and passed it off as fancy, as childlike imagination. You cannot forget it, you cannot escape it. It was your fate that your eyes fell upon it. As far away as it is, you are closer than ever." She remembered, even in her dreams. The recollection loosened her insides and left a mark of slowly growing dread in the pit of her soul. Her eyes filmed over momentarily, the memory flooding back and overtaking all of her senses. His voice snapped her violently back to reality. "You want the answers? You are going to get them, my friend. I only hope you are ready for them." Ixias' face turned to an expression of frustration and distrust.  
"You are just a figment, and when I wake up you will fade from my mind," she replied defensively, growing frightened and anxious for her own awakening. She didn't want to remember that which struck her deeply and emotionally in disbelief and fear, which was why - as he eloquently put it - she buried the experience deep within her mind, filled the grave with other thoughts and left the memory to decay.  
As the vision danced through her dream mind, she was reminded of the glowing green and found the monitors and their code sickeningly disturbing. She almost keeled forward with nauseating nostalgia had hands not shot out and steadied her. Jacob's eyes burned into hers.  
"You are so close, Ixias. If you want to find the truth, follow your heart. Only when you search for it will it find you." He leaned closer to her, his mouth inches from her ear. His hot breath steamed against her cool flesh as his grip on her shoulders tightened. "We won't be far." The dream slowly wavered into a watery mess.  
  
Her search proved positively inconclusive. Many websites hinted at the phrase, but only one dared to actually describe the apparent phenomenon - the others seemed too afraid of the consequences of furthering the study. The one website she found was curiously titled Alice Follows the White Rabbit. She had never seen Alice in Wonderland and vaguely knew of the storyline, so she could only wonder what the title meant. The webpage hinted of computer programs in the form of government officials that dominated the realm of what appeared to be the real, that humans aren't free and are actually slaves to some greater power that subconsciously and subliminally controls the entire human race. Those who pursued the curious mystery of what the Matrix was would be contacted, in time, by those who would offer them the option of the truth. Jacob. Jacob fucking Floyd. All of it was too much for Ixias' head.  
The fact that the stranger in her dream spoke of some ideology that actually existed and was apparently so hush-hush that even the anonymous users of the internet dared not divulge too deeply into its secrets scared the living bejeezus out of her. Could her dream have been something that really happened, on another plane in a parallel dimension? How could something so subconscious and seemingly random as a dream, a sick and twisted fantasy, contain actualities that she herself had never even heard of?  
Ixias angrily shut off her computer and tried to steady her breathing.  
In. Out. In. Out.  
She stumbled to her bed and pulled the covers over her head. Tears threatened the borders of her eyelids with a vengeance, but she bottled up the confusion and slowly relaxed into the comfort of her warm, secure bed. The tears receded and Ixias eventually fell into a troubled sleep, littered with dark thoughts and lights flashing in the distance. She dreamed of a machine. She dreamed. 


	4. Chapter 4: Take the Red Pill, Ixias

She was already four chapters into the book by the time she crawled into bed later that night. Minerva was fast asleep on the pillow next to her own, her little body rising and sinking into the giant fluffy pillow. Ixias lightly trailed her fingers down the kitten's back, eliciting a comforting and happy purr from her throat. She did not stir, only snuggled deeper into her comforting sleep of chasing mice and playing with king-sized balls of yarn.  
The picture drew a smile to Ixias' face. She slid under the covers and opened her book up to chapter four.  
Take the Red Pill, Alice.  
Ixias dropped the book, a sudden shockwave of trembles and shivers rocketing through her body. She raised a quaking hand to her face, her heart beating violently in her ears. The incident came flooding back to her memory. The dream, the fingerprints, the whispers, the Matrix. The Matrix.  
The thought had never left her head. The idea that her entire life was a lie burned somewhere in a dark recess of her mind - how any of this could be true remained a mystery that she was determined to solve. There was no longer any doubt in her mind that her dream was just that - it had been a vision, a sign from somewhere beyond the realm of her world that there was something out there she was looking for, and that she was destined to find it. She could feel it coming, and she knew what it was.  
It was the truth.  
  
She picked up the book and, relaxing, focused on the words that tauntingly blurred together on the pages. Concentrating, she read the first line.  
"Those who seek the truth will find it."  
Jesus.  
Sweet fucking Jesus.  
She read on deeper into the chapter before she came to a familiar textual predicament.  
"Know, reader, that the outcome of your choice will lead to irreversible consequences. Every action has its reaction. Your decision will not only affect your own life as well as the lives of those around you, but of those you cannot see and haven't come into yet. Embarking on this journey is a dangerous and often fatal mistake the unsuspecting and curious make. You must know the path before you walk it."  
So many riddles, so many vague hints and answers to questions she hadn't thought of asking. She wasn't sure if she could handle the rest of the book. But she had to go on. The burning inside of her demanded it.  
  
The clock read 5:03am when Ixias set the book down. The feeling of knowing and wanting to know settled in place over her mind. It was the end of the book and the beginning of her life.  
She picked up the phone and called her boss's phone, knowing she wouldn't be in. She got the answering machine.  
"Hello, this is Angelina Gaines of MiniGrafix Incorporated. I am not available to answer your call at the moment, so please leave your name, number, and a brief message and I will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you and have a lovely day." Ixias prepped herself for the lamest bullshit excuse of the century. But Angelina adored Ixias, and Ixias adored her unusually cool boss back, so she would be forgiven.  
"Angelina," Ixias sputtered a cough, "it's 5am and I've been up all night hugging the toilet. I caught the stomach virus going around and I won't be able to make it in today. I will get back to you as soon as I can about the Stockmark project and I will fax you the details when I am feeling better. Sorry again, and I'll talk to you soon hon. Bye." She hung up the phone and felt the urge to snigger, but instead sat up and ran her fingers through her long, straight red hair. The information swirling around her head ceaselessly wouldn't allow her to fall off to sleep. She wasn't even tired. She felt alive. More alive and ready than she had in weeks.  
She threw off her pajamas and changed into a comfortable pair of clothes. The Rabbit Hole would open at 8am, and Max would be working again today. Ixias prepared herself a list of questions to ask him over a bowl of cereal and a cup of orange juice. After all, he had been the one to recommend the book, so he apparently knew more about the unknown than he let on.  
The sun rose mockingly slow, beams of light gradually lighting the sky from its deep navy blue to a lighter shade. Reds, purples, pinks and yellows pierced the pregnant dawn.  
Minerva stared curiously up at her owner. It was not often that her human was up before she was. In fact, Minerva was usually Ixias' wakeup call for breakfast. She was not due up for at least another hour. What was going on? She hopped into her lap and kneaded at her legs. Ixias smiled, wishing she had the innocent, happy and carefree life of a little kitten like her own.  
She stroked Minerva lovingly, kissing her forehead and the bridge of her teeny little nose. Females were known to be skiddish, but not this one. Minerva was a glowing beam of sunshine, always happy and always ready to play. She knew when Ixias was sick or unhappy, and knew how to bring a smile to her face and a laugh to her soul. She was a gift from the gods, and Ixias treasured every moment she shared with her little bundle of joy.  
She got up from the chair a few moments later, regretting to leave the comfort of her baby, but she knew it was time. Max would be arriving at the store early to open, and she had to get there before anyone else was in the store. She needed to talk to him privately, away from the prying ears of anyone that could get in her way.  
Already I'm growing paranoid. Jesus. Ixias knew that knowing what she now knew put her at in grave danger, for the information she withheld was something that apparently very few, select people knew. She had yet to figure out why she was chosen to know, why the stranger from her dream, a man by the name of Jacob Floyd, had visited her and spoke to her in such a curious manner. But all of the answers to these plaguing and prodding questions would come in time.  
She bundled up against the cold, throwing on a shirt, hoodie, heavy overcoat, gloves, hat and a scarf. She had the nagging feeling that her journey would lead her long through the day and into the night, so she stuffed 2 water bottles and some small snacks from the kitchen into her purse. She left food out for the cat, who she presumed would gorge her skinny fatass on and then expect more later on. She hadn't the time to worry, so she decided to call her landlady. The phone rang three times before the woman picked up.  
"Hello?" She chirped.  
"Hi, Mrs. Hamilton, it's Ixias."  
"Oh, Ixias, hello dear, how are you? I hope everything's ok, I'm not used to getting phone calls from you this early."  
"Everything's fine, thanks, I just need to ask a small favor of you. I'm going out on. business today, and I'm not sure when I'll be back. Would you be so kind as to feed my kitten later tonight if I'm not back? I'd be in your debt."  
"Sure thing," the elder woman replied.  
"Thank you so much honey, if you ever need anything you let me know." The two said their goodbyes and hung up. Ixias paused for a moment, wondering why she suddenly presumed she wouldn't be home in time to feed Minerva. A distressing feeling arose in her stomach when she pondered the prospect of the day she now held in her hands. Something told her this day would radically change her life for the rest of her existence. Rather than waste time debating the philosophy her immediate future held for her, she said farewell to her kitten and headed out the door into the cold, dark world. 


	5. Chapter 5: Preparations for an Awakening

Chapter 5: Preparations for an Awakening  
  
Ixias reached for the brass doorknob of the small hole-in-the-wall bookstore as it swung open to meet her. Max's smiling face greeted hers. "Up early this morning, aye Ixias?" He led her inside after they exchanged greetings.  
"Max," she paused for dramatic emphasis, "I finished the book already."  
His face dropped. "Already?"  
"Yes. It was absolutely captivating. Thank you for showing it to me." She paused to take a breath. "It has answered some of my questions, but in the process only created a thousand more. I need you to tell me whatever you know about this, this Matrix theory." Max's face grew flustered.  
"Shh! Not so loud. You never know who could be listening." The middle- aged man's brow furrowed, his face contorting into a look of nervous apprehension. He locked the door to the bookstore momentarily and led Ixias into the backroom.  
"There is a place I can tell you of, but you must swear to me on our friendship that you will never tell another soul about it. You did not hear this from me. Understand?" Ixias nodded solemnly, gulping loudly. What in the holy hell had she gotten herself into?  
Max cleared his throat and sat her down at a creaky wooden table in the dusty backroom of the bookstore. He reached for a book hidden behind volumes of dusty encyclopedias, novels, non-fiction books and works of poetry. He took a rag from his pocketed apron and dusted off the cover. The cover read The Journey Into Wonderland - What You Need To Know. What was with the Alice in Wonderland references? Max opened the book and pulled a dusty, crinkled old map out of the back sleeve. It was a map of a state park in New York that he had kept tucked away in the book  
"There is a place outside the city, a good 55 minutes away in New York State," he began. "It's on the outskirts of a town called Tuxedo, deep within the surrounding forest preserves. 4 miles into the preserve along the River Serenity is a lake originally named Jasmine Pond, but it goes by the nickname Lake Starry-eyed. The entire area surrounding the lake, back many yards into the depths of the forests, is known as the Miracle Glitch. It is considered haunted, but those who go there know more of the truth than they speak, and do not speak of it for fear of the repercussions. The truth is, the area is indeed a glitch, as it is called. It can answer your questions about the Matrix, only if you open your eyes and your mind to it." Ixias' expression was one of speechless wonder.  
"The book was very interesting I must say, for it explained to me the history and theories about what the Matrix means, and about the men and women who are 'free' and the 'agents' who keep it secret. But it never exactly told me what the Matrix is. Can you?" Her eyes pleaded softly. He shook his head.  
"I am telling you all that I can, love. It is up to you to discover it for yourself." His face fell into a pure manifestation of pain and sorrow. "I just hope you know what you are getting yourself into. Many of those who go in search of such far-off legitimacies never return." She narrowed her eyes in fear and apprehension.  
"What is so dangerous about knowing what the Matrix is? Why is it kept such a secret?" Max sat down.  
"The truth about the Matrix is the truth about our very existence. To know it is to completely erase whatever you know, or think you know, about life itself and everything that is happening around you at once. There is a reason it is kept secret from the entire population. The select few who learn the truth escape with only cuts and bruises. The unlucky ones,." he trailed off to a tragic finish. The unlucky ones never return.  
The words Max had spoken very closely resembled what Ixias had read earlier that morning. Why was she asking questions she already knew the answers to? Was her mind so closed to the possibility of the unraveling of all that she knew that she was unable to comprehend everything, that nothing made sense because her own psyche refused to believe it or even consider it?  
Yes. Her soul itself had a taste of what might be, but her mind was so programmed, so fucking set in its illogical and perhaps self-destructive ways that she was unable to completely devote herself to the belief that the world may not be as it seems. Her curious soul thirsted for the knowledge which her skeptical mind rejected.  
Ixias shook her head and cleared her thoughts momentarily. "This place, this Miracle Glitch. what am I to expect?"  
"The completely unexpected," Max replied matter-o-factly. "That is all I can tell you. You must experience it for yourself. But I warn you to be careful. If you are to go there, you must leave the way you came in. I know not of what came of the others who did not follow such advice. I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to you." He leaned over the table, his breath against her cool skin hot and dripping with fear.  
"If I were you Ixias, I would be content with theorizing; I wouldn't push my luck. This place, this space, is completely random and unpredictable. Anything could happen there, and I mean anything. There are no boundaries, no borders, no rules and no laws. The impossible is completely possible there, and more probably likely to happen than not. I ask,. no, I plead that you guard yourself and take every precaution necessary. The place is known to those who need to know of it, and it is heavily guarded and gated by barbed wire fences. As I said, many who go there do not return, and the few who live to tell about it become sick at the thought. Their entire lives become nothing right before their eyes, everything they thought they knew becomes meaningless - null and void." He grasped her hands. "Are you sure you want to do this?" His grip tightened with fear and anxiety.  
"I must know now. I have had a vision and it's my destiny to know. I have to," she said painfully, looking away from the pleading man's face. His eyes fell to the tabletop, and he released his grip.  
"There is one more thing you must know. If you see an agent - you know, a government official - you cannot run, you cannot hide. You must be alone at all times. If anyone, and I mean anyone approaches you, human or beast, you run. Flee. Drop everything you have and get the hell out of there. They will be watching you, I guarantee it." He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands. Ixias processed the entire conversation in her head, bringing her to the brink of an emotional breakdown. She calmed herself before asking her final question.  
"Max," she said, "how do you know all of this?"  
His face fell once again into a look of misery, pity and nostalgia. He cleared his throat, his eyes brimming with tears with whatever was going on behind them.  
"My niece was once in your position. She wanted to know, she needed to know, as you do now. She went in search of the truth, and it found her." Ixias felt saddened for the man.  
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." She took his left hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. He raised his eyes to hers and smiled.  
"Don't be, my lady. She is free now. She made it." He smiled, and wiped a tear from his eye. "Her name was Trinity." 


	6. Chapter 6: Off into the Wild Blue Yonder

Chapter 6: Off into the Wild Blue Yonder  
  
"Thank you for everything hon," Ixias gave her friend a tight hug at the door. He smiled sadly.  
"I do believe, however, this is not the last time we shall meet," he said, his eyes shrouded in knowing mystery. "I see great things for you." Ixias smiled thoughtfully.  
"You are so good to me, Max. I wish nothing but happiness for you. And I'll be sure to grab you something extra-special for the holidays," she said as she opened the door. The two shared a final laugh and said their goodbyes. Ixias was on her way.  
  
Inside her jet black Mitsubishi Eclipse, she rubbed her hands together as the engine idled and the car warmed. She flipped on to her favorite station, which was oddly playing her favorite song at the moment, "Harder to Breathe" by Maroon 5. She began singing along to the lyrics as the car grew warmer.  
"Like a little girl cries in the face of a monster that lives in her dreams, is there anyone out there cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe?" She sang softly, her bright hazel green eyes sparkling in the rising sun. The day of reckoning had dawned beautifully.  
She turned onto the already busy street, watching dashes of yellow - taxis - fly by her on the left. Traffic was backed up for miles down Avenue of the Americas, past all of the head shops and sex shops and pizzerias and clubs and bars. The sunlight lit the park on her left, spreading sunshine through the glistening green leaves and dousing the sky with its radiance. The morning was flawless in its simplicity.  
She finally made it down the road a couple of blocks and searched frantically for the exit which she would take. She had to take the Holland Tunnel, hop across multiple freeways to Route 17, take that to I-87 at the border of New Jersey and New York, and take that north for about half an hour until she reached Tuxedo. She munched hungrily on a candy bar and realized she would have to make a pit stop along the way to pick up her second breakfast.  
After stopping at a deli off of one of the freeways, she finally reached I-87 and crossed over the NJ/NY border. A feeling of relief and apprehension washed over her like a wave, complete wish gooseflesh and butterflies in her stomach. She felt dizzy with fear, with anxiety, and with curiosity. She was shaking so badly at one point that she almost spilled her green tea all over her jeans, but managed to steady herself with a soft chant of "Everything will be fine." Of course, she truly didn't believe everything would be fine. She knew she was heading into possibly the stupidest, most dangerous self-assigned mission of her life. She was putting herself in complete danger of the unknown, but, how could the unknown be dangerous if nothing was truly known about it? She had to find out. One way or another.  
  
She watched the gorgeous mountains and trees of New York pass by her as she made her way deeper into the backwoods of her old stomping grounds. Ixias and her ex-boyfriend from her teenage years used to take random road trips into the lower New York area, exploring the back roads and finding hang-out spots to serve as excuses for skipping school and wasting time. The area was familiar, but because it had been so long since she had returned, it now seemed foreign and foreboding. Although the sun was shining brightly, she could not help but feel a shadow pass over the land as she neared her final destination.  
She reached to turn the radio louder for some comfort when her celphone began to ring. Puzzled, she reached down and looked at the number on the lid of her flip phone. It was anonymous, an untraceable call. She flipped the phone open curiously and answered.  
"Hello?"  
There was a pause before a woman's voice spoke.  
"Are you sure where you are going is where you want to be?"  
Ixias' heart both dropped to her stomach and jumped to her throat. It was happening already. They knew. Someone knew, and she had only spoken to one person, who she trusted with her whole being and even made her promise not to tell a soul. How could.  
"Who the fuck is this?" Ixias demanded angrily. She did not appreciate being spied on, nor did she appreciate being called and frightened out of the blue.  
"You are putting yourself in unnecessary danger. If you wish to know the truth there are other ways of doing this." The woman's voice was soft and unthreatening, but firm and imploring simultaneously.  
"Whoever this is." Ixias paused, steadying herself and focusing most of her attention on the road ahead, "I have no time for bullshit games. You have no right to spy on me, nor to know my business. What I am doing is for my benefit only. Leave me alone."  
"But you won't be left alone. You will be found, and then you won't be after they get to you. Rethink your actions, Ixias. This isn't the only way." The mystery woman paused. "I can help you. I know what you are looking for and I can take you there, if you let me."  
Ixias paused. The woman sounded like she truly meant to help her, but Ixias had all the help she needed within herself. And who was this they everyone kept throwing at her? Just extra pieces throw into an already jumbled puzzle. It didn't help that she was truly angered by her privacy being intruded in such a fashion.  
"Look, thank you just the same but I'll be fine on my own. However you know of all of this information about me, I suggest you forget it and find someone else to spy on. I am not worth your time, and you are not worth mine. I am doing what I must and no one, not you nor anyone else, is going to stop me." Ixias was breathing heavily into the phone at this point, overcome with exasperation and agitation. The other woman hesitated to speak.  
"Suit yourself. If you change your mind you will hear from us again." Click.  
Ixias cried out and flung the phone into the backseat. "FUCK!" She yelled, slamming her fists into the steering wheel in a fit of maddened rage and nearly veering off the road onto the shoulder. She regained composure and collected what little she could of herself as she straightened the car in its lane. She didn't have time to recap the conversation in her head when she saw the exit sign ahead. Tuxedo Exit 39. A feeling of dread rose in her veins as she turned off I-87 and took a right at the light.  
The preserve loomed ahead 5 miles down the road from the exit, past the town and into the backwoods of NY State. She followed the road in the bright sunshine, the fear and darkness spreading in her body. She felt tense and nervous, dizzy and anxious, scared and excited, shocked and thrilled. The complexity of her emotions disturbed her already frazzled mind.  
After driving along for some time, her thoughts blocking out the music to complete mental silence with the occasional psychological scream, she saw the wooden sign pointing to the Preserve at Tuxedo come into view. She followed the left and was completely surrounded by trees on almost all sides. The forest was thick enough to create a canopy that blocked most of the sunshine radiating on that perfectly sunny day. The forest was lit by intensely focused beams of sunshine that rained down through the openings in the leaf awning, giving the forest an eerily peaceful glow. She bumped and rolled down the dirty gravel road, kicking up dust and pebbles as the feelings in her mind and soul took over her entire body. She was wracked with apprehensive fear.  
She pulled into a parking spot next to the ranger station and climbed out. She bundled up again against the frigidly crisp NY mountain air, and grabbed her purse. She locked her car and kept her map handy in her pocket.  
  
She looked for a larger, more detailed map and found it hanging up on the side of the ranger hut. She followed the River Serenity with her forefinger until it drained into Jasmine Pond, which was X'd off with red permanent marker. A note hung on the side of the map that said Jasmine Pond was temporarily closed for draining due to toxic pollutions. Something didn't set right with that, and Ixias knew it was a feeble attempt at covering up the truth. The trail that ran parallel to the river was off to the right. She bent down to tie her shoelaces and rose, her eyes scanning the trail. Even with the sunlight streaming down like raindrops through the leaves and the fresh air, and the beauty of the scenery, Ixias felt the skies of her soul darken over. She was frightened, enthralled, cold, anxious and alone. 


	7. Chapter 7: Walking the Path

Chapter 7: Knowing the Path, Walking the Path  
  
The path was closed off with yellow tape and cones, but any halfway intelligent person could climb over them, or simply walk around and walk through the trees to intersect the path. The forest that morning was cheery, but Ixias was not. Birds chirped merrily in the treetops above, squirrels who had missed the hibernation deadline scavenged for all that remained in the dead grasses abound, and the wind was almost warm and soft. Ixias didn't feel anything but a growing sense of dread and fear. Why was she doing this? Why was this so important to her? What was pulling at her, dragging her closer and closer to this truth that perhaps she was better off not knowing? Was the phrase innocence is bliss relevant at this point? Apparently not. Ixias felt almost as if she had no control over what was happening. The world was spinning, as was her mind, as were her emotions. She drew ever closer and closer to that which she had been spared only hints and peeks of. The truth. The truth about herself and her own existence. Today was her judgment day. But why? Why was this such a demanding and nagging persistence in her mind? Why couldn't she just pass off the dream as fancy, the details as some far- off coincidence that may have been kept in secret in her creative subconscious for years, the desire for the truth as a longing to fill a gap that remained in her life that she could neither pinpoint nor explain? Because. Because she knew it was something more than that. It was something that she needed to do - to prove her existence, all fallacies aside, to know the answers that beg the questions. Something was about to give, and she could feel it coming even stronger now. She felt almost pulled along by a force, dragged along the path to her doom or her destiny. She couldn't explain it, but when she stumbled over her own clumsy feet and fell upon her hands in the dust, she knew she was getting frightfully close. It had already been a mile and a half into the woods and the area was growing darker and more foreboding with every moment. Was she a fool? Oh yes, indeed my precious, yes. She had come into a completely unknown territory without any gear or preparations, all on a whim based upon a thirst for knowledge based upon a fancy based upon a dream. She was a complete and utter fool. Fool or not, she was brave. A brave, naïve fool. Anything could befall her at this point and no one would know the difference. She would disappear into the forest forever and never return. She clutched the map tightly in her fingers and kept walking. If she thought of light and fanciful things, the forest seemed to brighten slightly, to lose some of its eerie prophecy. So she concentrated on imagining warm and happy thoughts - the thought of her beautiful baby kitten curled up on the pillow next to her head, sleeping fancifully and dreaming peacefully. Her friend Max, being so kind as to put himself in an unseen danger by telling her all that he could, and guiding her in the direction of her possible doom against his own will. The sunshine and bright blue skies above the canopy. The crunching of leaves and snapping of a thousand branches directly behind her. 


	8. Chapter 8: For All 6 Senses

Chapter 8: For All 6 Senses  
  
Ixias whirled around as a scream was lodged in her throat. She choked on her own escaping breath.  
Empty. Nothingness.  
Vast.  
There was no one behind her. Nothing. Not a squirrel, not a bird. She hadn't realized that the symphony of the birds had ceased. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts.  
Breaking into a run, Ixias bolted senselessly and wildly down the path. The stream burbled and murmured ceaselessly a few hundred yards to her left as she ran for her life. Something was following her. Something was watching her. She couldn't see them, but oh yes, they could see her just fine.  
  
She lost her breath in ragged gasps as she bent over, huffing and puffing whilst leaning against an oak tree. Its leaves swayed peacefully, creating a soft rustle that somehow lightened her thudding heart. She looked back behind her and saw nothing but the path and the forest on both sides. Streams of sunlight cascaded nonchalantly down into the woodland, but less frequently as they had when she first arrived. The area grew darker as she neared her destination, both outside of her eyes and inside her soul.  
She continued on wearily, having traveled almost two and a half miles whilst sipping her bottle of water cautiously. The silence was broken only by the rustling of the winds. Even the silly forest creatures knew better than to walk the path.  
Somewhere down the path, the whisper of soft voices floated somewhere on the breeze. Ixias could barely make out the voices, but she flattened herself against a thick maple trunk and listened quietly.  
".. Pollutants? .. Never . some."  
Only some words made themselves comprehensible on that exposing wind, but Ixias knew it was enough to remain quiet and out of sight until the voices faded away.  
". Shifts. seen it?. stars and shit. fucked up. lost his job." The distant sound of leaves crunching under footsteps slowly faded off towards the south, as did the voices. Guards were on duty in the near area to keep watch over the enigma. One guard had apparently abandoned his post to chat momentarily with a neighboring watch, during which Ixias had time to slip through unnoticed.  
The footsteps stopped, and the voices took on a tone of apprehension.  
". hear that?"  
". no. would come here."  
Ixias drew in a sharp breath, and made a split-second decision to flee as fast as her legs could carry her. No looking back.  
She took off in a sprint straight down the path, all the while cautiously avoiding large piles of dead leaves and branches and twigs strewn about. Her flight was, for the most part, swift and silent.  
She eventually came out of breath upon a crooked, warped sign pointing off to the north and east. Jasmine Pond, .4m it read. She was unusually close for the distance she had run, justifying the unusual tightness in her chest and the pursuit of her potential incapacitators. The sound of distant footsteps crunching through the dead leaves grew louder and drew nearer. Fuck oh fuck oh fuck! She mentally wailed. Swirling around 360 degrees several times and surveying the scene about her, a pair of nearly unnoticeable dots somewhere down the path came into view. Without an instant to spare she took off again, almost as if by habit, almost as if by force.  
Twigs snapped and leaves crunched incessantly under her softly sprinting feet. Even in her panic she was fluid and graceful, lightly stepping to avoid too much noise and carefully ambling around the obstacles in her way. After a few moments, she felt the air grow thick and. different. It expanded and warmed, sank and cooled in various areas, completely defying all that she had learned in meteorology and astronomy. She slowed herself some 5 minutes later after her brisk sprint, hoping she was far enough ahead to catch a breath. Her lungs cried for mercy, and guzzling her water bottle, she decided to take a short rest. The path had curved strongly away from the straightaway, which shielded her for the time being. She leaned against a large boulder and recovered impatiently, furiously glancing at her watch. She decided to continue on after a brief 30 seconds of nervous anxiety. Ixias gathered herself together and continued at a hurried pace down the path, narrowly avoiding several puddles of muck and protruding tree roots jutting out of the ground. She was lost in her own thoughts when her foot suddenly plunged through the dirt up to her knee.  
"Holy shit!" She cried, furiously tugging at her leg. Her leg was buried in what appeared to be solid earth. How could the ground give way? Had she found a sinkhole?  
When she budged her foot free and brushed the clumps of dirt away from her pants, she peered curiously down into the hole. A few chunks of dust and rock tumbled down into the completely black hole. The sound of pebbles clattering against the bottom never came to her ears. It was endless. A bottomless pit.  
What the. she wondered. She leaned back timidly from the hole, trying to make sense of what just happened. Just trying to figure out the physics of what had just happened made her brain hurt. Remembering the task at hand and the possibility of enemies not so far behind her, she didn't dare ask questions so soon and nerve-wrackingly continued on.  
A few moments later, Ixias came upon another anomaly.  
She smacked her face nose-first into an invisible nothing.  
She had walked into a dead wall of air.  
She peered straight through the air, and could see absolutely nothing blocking her way. The path veered off to the left up ahead, and she could see all around her without a problem. But something was in her way. Something she couldn't see, but could definitely feel. She rubbed her nose in confusion and pain, and pressed her hand up against the invisible barrier. It was solid nothing. Not cold, not hot. She couldn't explain the texture, but it felt like. like nothing. She could feel the air all around her, and she could feel the solidity of the. object. but she couldn't feel it.  
Like a mime, she felt her way around the wall. Finding an empty pocket, she plunged her hand through the air along the side of it. The consistency of the air mess resembled watery Jell-O. She pulled her hand back as if she had been given a nasty electrical shock, and her eyes widened at the prospect.  
"What the fuck is going on?" She cursed to no one in particular, feeling offended, disturbed and intrigued at the same time. Looking around cautiously to see if anyone had had heard her, she pushed her hand through the air around the right side of the barrier and again felt as if she was thrusting her hand through Jell-O. The air was a solid, runny texture.  
She stood for a few moments, pondering what to do. The wall extended beyond the full length of her arms for goodness knows how high. There was no opening on the left side, and it extended horizontally for an unknown length. She had been lucky to find an opening. Knowing she had no choice, she sucked in a deep breath and plunged into the abyss. Her body instantly felt an altered sense of pressure and gravity - she slowed the moment she made contact with the substance, hardly able to move. Her body was almost anti-animated as she struggled to move through the area. It was like trying to run on the floor of an ocean - nearly impossible, unbalanced and erratic. She pushed herself through as the mass, clawing frantically at the end. It pushed itself against her skin, slapping and sliding against her bare flesh and clinging to her clothing, holding her back and applying physical forces in the opposite direction of which she was traveling. She was almost unable to breathe as her lungs constricted in defiance and protest against the new environment.  
With a desperate surge of strength, she was finally birthed on the other side of the amass. Her hair stuck together in messy and frizzy clumps, gobs and chunks of nothingness clinging to her clothing. She checked her entire body twice over feverishly, looking for any signs of change or mutations. None. She was fine.  
Ixias shook herself free of whatever remained of the air that clung to her. The air released itself from her clothing and she breathed normally again. She would never again experience such a new and frightening feeling. She nervously ran a shaky hand through her hair, which had the consistency of bone-dry and soaked at the same time. It took her a few moments to get it back to its usual straight and beautiful nature. After regaining her nearly lost composure, she stood for a moment and pondered just what in the high holy hell had happened. 


	9. Chapter 9: Strands of Unwoven Reality

Chapter 9: Strands of Unwoven Reality  
  
She continued on, the phenomenon she had just encountered still fresh in her mind. She hadn't the time to ponder its significance or its likelihood of existence, or that of the other incidents, when she rounded the bend and walked only a few steps before stopping dead in her tracks. A towering barbed wire fence loomed in her path, with a splintered and well- worn sign dangling perilously from its clutches.  
"GOVERNMENT PROPERTY - NO TRESSPASSING. TRESSPASSERS WILL BE APPREHENDED AND PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED."  
Shiiit.  
She ignored the sign's attempt to scare her and looked around quickly. The fence had to be at least 8 feet high and extended for what appeared to be miles zig-zaggedly through the forest.  
Ixias noticed a large, gnarled old birch tree about 300 yards off to the right of the path, where its topmost branches dangled over the fence.  
She tiptoed, crunching unluckily loudly through the woodland as she made her way to the tree. She stopped at its trunk and peered curiously up the length of the tall tree.  
Slinging her purse over a lower branch, Ixias freed her hands and stepped back a few paces to give herself some room.  
Drawing in a deep breath, she kicked herself into gear and dashed for the tree. Leaping with all the muscle she had inside of her, she rose into the air and grasped for the branch.  
What happened next nearly choked the logic out of her.  
She soared into the air and had gone far more vertically than she had intended to - some 5 feet higher than should have normally been humanly capable. Not only did she clear the branch, but she landed firmly on it, standing as if she had simply stepped up from a ladder.  
She teetered precariously on the branch and stared down the 10 feet to the ground which she had just cleared in one meek leap. Her eyes widened.  
"Oh. my. god. How the FUCK did I just do that? What is going ON!?" She yelled aloud to herself. She couldn't comprehend all that was happening to her in such a short amount of time. If sinkholes and invisible walls and the bending and breaking of everyday physical laws was driving Ixias to what felt like the brink of insanity, how was she to deal with what awaited her at the Miracle Glitch?  
She bent down nervously to grasp her purse from the lower branch when she lost her balance.  
Ohgodohgodohgodohgodhelpmehelpmehelpme!!!  
She tumbled off of the branch just missing the barbed prickers of the fence and fell towards her clumsy doom. But what happened next gave her an enlightened sense of the existence of miracles.  
She closed her eyes and wished that she wasn't about to hit the ground as she fell flailingly through the air. Just as she was about to make her unholy impact, she stopped short a mere 3 centimeters from the ground, hovering immobile. She didn't just slow down - she completely stopped short and froze in her place.  
Ixias slowly opened her eyes, afraid to witness what heaven or hell lay before her. She hovered intensely over the ground, frozen in silent await.  
When her mind relaxed, she fell to the ground in a small cloud of dust. Coughing and sputtering stammered fragments of questions, she rolled over and dusted herself off.  
"What is happening? How is it that I ran into an invisible wall, and plunged into solid dirt, and jumped 10 feet in the air, and. and. I can't deal with this, I'm such an idiot, how could I think I could handle something I knew next to nothing about,. what is all of this, what kind of nightmare have I walked in to?" She slumped against a leaning maple and nearly wept overwhelmingly. 


	10. Chapter 10: The Miracle Glitch

Chapter 10: The Miracle Glitch  
  
Ixias had been walking along slowly, every footstep digging a trench in her well-worn mind. She was just about to give up and turn back, unable to deal with or comprehend the miraculous events of the past hour, when she felt a foreshadowing electric shock jolt through her nerves. She hadn't hit another endless sinkhole. She hadn't slammed into another brick wall or defied a simple law of Earth physics. She had reached the Miracle Glitch.  
Ixias had come to an clearing in the canopy where the sky before her opened like a dome. Before her was a great and beautiful lake, where around its shores lay the forest dark and silent. The sign before her, melting into the ground, read Jasmine Lake.  
She raised her eyes slowly to the sky, and choked on a gasp caught in her throat. A discombobulated murmur which was originally intended to be ". the Miracle Glitch,..." dribbled out from between her lips as her mouth dropped open.  
The sky over the lake was pitch black and dotted innumerably with stars. At 10:32 in the morning.  
Seemingly millions of stars speckled the open sky. A spiral galaxy swirled eternally in the upper northeastern corner of the sky, glowing and pulsing like a living, breathing entity. Comets and asteroids made frequent swing-bys, lighting up the midnight sky with flashes like fireworks. Before her disbelieving eyes, a fiery comet neared ever closer to the earth. She cried aloud and dove for the ground, curling herself in a terrified ball and placing her hands over her head, but unable to tear her eyes away from the phenomenon she was witnessing.  
The comet - an icy chunk the size of a football - sizzled through the atmosphere, splitting the air with an eerie, piercing wail. It slammed into the surface of the water, but created absolutely no sound. Silence rang loudly in Ixias' confused ears as the water surged upwards and out in a large spray. The waves then froze in midair.  
Ixias slowly and cautiously stood up, eyeing the lake queerly. The entire surface of the lake instantly froze, like a movie paused that left everything exactly as it was in a single frame. Tiny droplets blurred in the air as they were stopped dead in their trajectories. The waves stood boundlessly in the anti-physics of the air, and the ripples and waves that should have projected out from the impact remained in tight circles around the source. She stood witnessing everything in wonder, in astonishment, in shock and amazement. A few seconds passed, and the waves fell almost defeatedly back into the water, giving up on the laws of physics completely. The ripples shot out and the water stirred quietly, but the natural events that should have taken place failed to exist, as did their physical principles.  
"Woah." she stammered senselessly. She tripped and stumbled forward towards the lake - confused, bewildered, and plainly in awe. Where the sun had once, or rather, should have been, now resided millions of stars in a pitch black sky, gaseous clouds of a thousand wondrous colors, nebulas and supernovas closer than should be physically possible in the far off space, ceaseless meteor showers, and a nearby planet similar to Saturn - an eerie, green tinted planet that rotated in synch with its beautiful rings and had seven multi-colored moons orbiting at different rotational and revolutionary speeds. A distant star overshadowed another and created a sidereal eclipse. Rain on the far western side of the lake poured out of empty, cloudless air. Snow was piling up on the farthest southern side of the lake, and lightning quietly pummeled the snow-covered grounds in an imaginary electric storm. All of these anomalies surpassed the laws of physics and mathematics. None of this could be happening, but it was.  
Ixias slowly fumbled for her purse, never taking her eyes off of the inconceivable scene in front of her. She found the mini Polaroid camera that she had stowed away and quickly snapped a picture. The flash remained as tiny photons in the air around her, hovering like glowing sunspots on the lenses of her eyes. They drifted carelessly for a few moments before floating to the ground like glimmering speckles of pixie dust and disappearing as quickly as the sparks from a firework.  
'What the hell is going on here, how is all of this possibly happening? Is this the realm of another dimension? Are my eyes playing tricks? Am I hallucinating? Have I stepped aboard another plane entirely? Is this place really haunted?' All these questions plagued her mind simultaneously as she shook the picture and waited for it to develop.  
The scene came out as she saw it, only. different. The million colors that swirled and flashed before her eyes - the lake, the stars, the planets and heavenly bodies, the snow and the rain and the lightening - all came out on the film. Only, they didn't come out as what was playing before her eyes. Everything down to the last minute star in the sky was in code. Eerie, sickening, disturbing, bright green glyphs, running and streaming down the picture like the microscopic pixels of a blown-up photo. Ixias was instantly taken back to her dream, which again filmed her eyes and overtook her senses. The nauseating green code spilled down the monitors, reminiscent of everything she could not explain nor understand. She was brought back to the incident she witnessed as a child, that which she was afraid to confront and understand, but seemed only like a trip to the candy store compared to what she had witnessed today. She was so overwhelmed with what was taking place in front of her, the absolute beauty of everything she was seeing, the unbelievable and the surreal, that as tears of joy and fear and happiness and awe and love and curiosity and disbelief and understanding and sorrow and conclusion and pure and raw emotion streamed down her face, the world around her spun madly. She felt the gravity slipping away as she teetered backwards, only to fall for what felt like hours. When she was just about to reach the ground, a pair of hands slipped underneath her arms and caught her. 


	11. Chapter 11: Rendezvouz

Chapter 11: Rendezvous  
  
Ixias' entire body turned frigid and tense. Foreign hands gripped her by the underarms and pulled her roughly to her feet. She stood up, facing the lake with her back to the intruder, and struggled to release a breath caught in her knotted chest. She slowly turned around to face the newcomer, closing her eyes briefly in terrified anticipation.  
"What are you doing here miss? You realize that this is government property. I'm afraid I have to take you in." The forest ranger stood firm and disappointedly irritated in his stance. Ixias let out an obvious whoosh of relief.  
"Look, I can explain, sir,. I,." she stammered timidly, a small quiver cascading through her body. She looked deeply into the ranger's face and pleaded that he have mercy on her.  
"There is nothing to explain, Ixias," the ranger muttered before a grim and sinister smile spread across his face. His lips peeled back to reveal a hideous sneer.  
Ixias backed away, absolutely and utterly petrified. The freakish defiances of nature she had experienced moments earlier were dances through the park compared to the dread and fear she felt now. Her stomach dropped to somewhere below her knees as Max's warning pulsed electrically through her mind. She backed away, pushing her hands out in front of her.  
"No. no,. I have to go. I, I,." she sputtered, and she whirled around to flee before an arm shot out and clutched her shoulder, crushing the muscles against the bone. She cried out in pain and pure terror, struggling to flee this monster's grasp. As she turned around to peer at his face - to see what his reaction was - a sudden and shocking metamorphosis occurred.  
The ranger's face melted and warped, stretching and shrinking in a most horrifying manner. His face mutated to the face of an unspeakably grim man. Opaque glasses formed upon the bridge of a narrow nose. The brown ranger uniform dissolved to a black suit with a white shirt and a navy blue tie. Black slacks dribbled down over the brown shorts, and where hiking boots once were morphed a pair of shiny black dress shoes. An agent was staring Ixias grimly in the face, his blank expression more gruesome than any emotion he could have displayed. Ixias' mouth was choked for words, her mind had completely shut down, and her train of thought had derailed, crashed into the station and killed all passengers aboard. She had been caught. Snared like a white rabbit in a trap. Max was right - the agents had watched her the entire time, and just when she thought she had fled safely, they snuck up behind her and caught her at a most vulnerable time.  
His grip tightened on her shoulders, refusing to let her run.  
"Hello, Miss Majicka. What a pleasant surprise that I should find you here." He tilted his head slightly; an expression of mock interest and curiosity formed where a vacant stare once occupied. "What purpose serves your being here, hmm? Is it the prospect of a vacation, so coincidentally located on governmental grounds? An explanation, I believe, is in due order." A sarcastic pout played on his lips.  
The look of horror on Ixias' face only multiplied. "*You*! I was warned of you. Let go of me you creep!" She took a swing at him with her free arm, only to have him move inhumanly fast in a nonchalant and casual dodge. He looked from her fist to her face and smiled eerily.  
"No need for violence so soon, my dear - we have just met. What is it you seek, Ixias? What promise or prophecy was foretold for you that you could possibly find in this wretched vicinity? I hope you haven't come this far only to be let down. As you can tell, none of this is *real*." His face dropped to a look of grave seriousness.  
"Let me go you fucking monster! What the hell are you, what the hell is this place, and what the hell do you want from me?" She wiggled and writhed tumultuously in his grasp. He reluctantly loosened his grip, however still keeping a tight clutch on her arm.  
"So many bothersome questions, Miss Majicka. Why come to a place you don't understand? There are no answers for you here - only trouble, and I seem to have found you." His eyes narrowed at her. "Don't try to run. Don't try to hide. You won't get far, and you'll only cause me to grow angry. You don't want to see me angry, Miss Majicka," he purred threateningly. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to see the emotion behind his glasses. She would have been disappointed.  
"You have seen too much, you know too much, and you question too much. Prying minds are not conductive for a submissive society." What was he talking about? His intelligence radiated behind those obscure sunglasses, if only Ixias could see the secrets he stored and the truths he concealed.  
"Submissive? You bureaucratic asshole!" She tried to wrench her arm from his grip, so he grabbed her other arm and lifted her off of her feet, dangling her precious inches from the ground. She squirmed helplessly in his powerfully tight grasp.  
"You are a *disposable*, *replaceable*, and *expendable* being. You don't add up to much more in this world than a blip on a computer monitor, Miss Majicka. You as an inferior and quite frankly *disgusting* organism are superbly efficient at poisoning and self-destructing yourselves as well as your surroundings in a most casual manner - you care nothing for the fluidity and order of your natural environment, but only for the self- righteously trite and transient ideologies of happiness and control over the now. Your futures are without significance or reason, and your pasts are mistakes inevitably doomed to be repeated. You will *never* learn from the err of your primitive and self-absorbed ways, nor will you cooperate with what you cannot see or understand - which is why I am here." He promptly hurled her to the ground, adding injury to a startlingly well- put insult. She hit the dirt and sent up a cloud of dust as jolts of pain spiraled through her back. Twinges of restriction pulsed painfully where the agent's deadly grip had once been.  
Ixias knew she had to get out of there before this man killed her with his bare albeit mighty hands. He had already inflicted some deflation on her ego with his verbal barrage of observations and truths. This viciously intimidating agent - both physically and mentally - was standing directly in front of the path she came in on. She could only pray that her speed and agility could take her far from the graces of this monster and out of here to somewhere safe. She utterly regretted ever leaving the comfort and solace of her home and her baby kitten.  
She slowly rose before the towering agent, showing no sign of wishing to flee, and dusted herself off.  
"And just what the hell are you? A wolf in human's clothing? Knock knock, you jackass. You're just as human as I am." She started at him through the dim light of the Miracle Glitch, her eyes trailing over his body and across the areas of bare flesh - his hands, his grimly attractive face. Yes. He definitely appeared to be human, inside and out. Although there was something about him, something that knocked her off. She couldn't pinpoint it.  
"Appearances can be deceiving, Miss Majicka. I am not who you think I am, nor will I ever be. *Ever.*" He leaned closer, his face briefly illuminated by the glowing blue radiance of a magnificent comet. "Your species disgusts me, and nothing would bring me more pleasure than to personally wipe out every single individual of your pathetically inferior and irrelevant kind."  
Ixias grew so flustered and emotionally enraged at the agent's articulate insults that she acted once again without thinking - she leaned back, a deep rumble in her throat, and hocked a particularly large loogie onto the dark shades of the agent.  
"Fuck you and fuck whatever you are! How dare you insult my kind. What gives you the right to consider yourself so much better than we? You,.." She trailed off, her mouth dropping open with realization. The agent's mouth twitched in what appeared to be stifled rage, and he calmly reached for the glasses on his face.  
Take the red pill, Ixias. The day of the dream came back to her, and for a moment she no longer saw the Agent or the Miracle Glitch. The only thing in front of her eyes was the computer monitor, brief clips from her dream, and select verses from the book she read. The agent standing in front of her wasn't human.  
He was a computer program.  
Max was right. The book was right. The Miracle Glitch had partially confirmed her worst fears. She still didn't understand what the Matrix was, but somehow a computer program had manifested itself into the real world - into her world - or whatever this world they were encased in was. He stood before her, solid and true, tangible and alive, but somehow too articulate - too programmed - to be real. Were all of the phenomenons she witnessed that morning computer programs as well, programs gone awry with some. *glitch*? Was she herself real?  
*Shit*. Shit ass bitch bastard hell damn and most importantly *fuck*. She hadn't the time to worry about questions now. All she needed to do was to get out of this nightmare, and the answers could come later.  
The agent wiped his glasses nonchalantly on the tails of his suit and then replaced them on his face. She got a brief glimpse of his intensely piercing eyes of blue. My god, was there a fire in them! Such rage, and such purpose. She was almost frozen in her place at the looks of them.  
An evil smirk trembled at the corner of his lips, almost too quickly to notice, before he grimly craned his neck to a disturbing crack and frowned deeply. "Miss Majicka," he murmured firmly, "you have fooled with something much too far beyond your limited comprehension. Do you know where you are? Do you know who I am? Do you know," he leaned closer, his steaming breath only inches from her face, "exactly what it is you are looking for? Is it pain, or trouble, or the *end*, because my dear, you have found all three." 


	12. Chapter 12: The Impossible is Possible

Chapter 12: The Impossible is Possible Tonight  
  
The moment she saw the agent's body snap into action she took off. Her legs ran wildly beneath her as she rocketed across the shore of the lake, away from the madman who pursued her and back in the direction of the entrance. She heard the explosions of a gun somewhere behind her, and felt the vibrations of several bullets fly by her. Jesus jumped up Christ, the killer's got a gun. As the bullets blurred past her, they left several grooved tracks in the thick air around her. She continued to run until the agent caught up to her and tackled her. They tumbled together for several feet, his body clutching to hers as they kicked up clouds of dust and streams of curses. Ixias got in several hooks to the chest and neck, causing the agent to cough and gag. He blocked a few of her punches and grabbed at her arms. He was now pinning the girl to the ground, where he nonchalantly cracked her one, two, three to the face. Blood spilled from her nose in a painful gush and raced to the broken surface of her cheek. She wrenched one arm free and grabbed fiercely at his balls. The agent let loose an animalistic howl, and quickly regaining poise, twisted her arm back to the ground. Tucking her legs underneath her as she wailed in pain and mercy, she frog-kicked the agent. He tumbled backwards off of her, but landed steadily on his feet - far too steadily for anything human. She scrambled to her feet just as a forceful boot to the ribs sent her with a roll through the air several feet forward, ending with a crash to the ground. Amidst the dust Ixias hugged herself tightly, trying to pressurize the unimaginable pain reverberating from her ribcage. She proceeded to crawl limply away from the agent, and saw that there was a chance to escape - she could barely see through the dim light the path which she came in on. If she could only run a little faster, she might have a chance - A sinister, gut-wrenching chuckle broke the dusty silence. The agent was laughing at her - laughing at her pathetic and feeble attempt to fight back, to save herself. She knew damn well how powerful and intelligent he was; she could see it in his fiery eyes, and hear it in his painfully true words. He was a programmed killing machine, and anything more efficient would be something not of this fraction of the universe. But for a brief moment after his laughter faded, the agent actually felt a hint of something deep down in his mechanics. He actually had to respect the girl for her lack of fear and her show of bravado, albeit in a rude and audacious way. Although she had run from him - he understood that any lower life form would have fled in absolute terror from just the sight of him - she had stood up to him for herself and for the dignity of her kind - one of the very purposes of the agent's existence. This would make it all the more rewarding to slay her. She lifelessly staggered away from the lake and towards the edge of the forest. The path was in sight, and if she could make it out of here in one piece, she would forget this ever happened and never take another precious moment for granted again. "Leaving so soon Miss Majicka? Don't you want to see who wins the battle of man and machine? I can assure that you won't leave," he paused, and waited a few moments before finishing his tirade to add emphasis, ".disappointed."  
  
Ixias grunted painfully, a snort of indignation and fury, in the direction of the agent. She would not dignify that with a response, so she broke into the fastest run she could manage - a quick, jagged walk that left her nearly toppling to both the left and right in pain. "You don't fight fair," she sputtered, having only traveled a few yards to the grinning delight of the agent. "You can see clearly that I am unarmed."  
  
"Oh, but that is a lie, my dear. You have two, and that is more than enough to defend your despicable self with." Ixias let loose an enraged growl and turned to face her assaulter. "Why can't you let me go? I can cause no harm to your kind, and you have my word that I will bury this memory forever and never speak of it again. Can you not let me go on understanding alone?" She hesitated. "If you're going to kill me, then do it now and save me this pain that I am undeserving of." Her eyes took on a glossy, lifeless glaze. The agent paused for a moment, never really thinking from the perspective of a lowly human. Ixias on one hand physically did nothing truly deserving of this kind of cat-and-mouse torture. On the other hand, she did everything deserving of her untimely death - she had poked her nose in business that did not concern her. She wanted to learn the truth of the Matrix, and that truth he was to defend to the death - her death. "Your *word* is and will never be more than an empty lie." He paused, looking the disheveled human being up and down. "So be it," The agent muttered grimly, and with a fatal grin he fired in Ixias' direction. She feebly hobbled towards her exit at the sound of the gun, dripping with blood, sweat and dirt. A bullet ripped through the cloud of dust, then two more. One came in contact with her shoulder and she toppled forewords to the dirt. Laying flat on her face, coughing and gasping for breath into the dirt (which only sent more earth funneling into her nose), Ixias rolled over onto her back. Pain emanated from every muscle, joint and bone in her entire body. Blood was still dribbling from her nose, scratches burned and pulsed on her cheeks and legs, the bullet wound screamed with knife-like intensity, and she was weak with fatigue and fear. The agent hovered over her, placing the barrel in the direction of her face. She opened her eyes meekly to him, acknowledging her loss and impending doom. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision to a watery sight. "Please," she whispered softly, so softly the agent almost didn't hear her. His hand trembled momentarily, and in an effort to regain control and composure he cocked the gun and pointed it directly between her eyes. Something startled him momentarily. He wasn't sure if the girl was begging to be spared, or killed with the grace and dignity of a warrior. She had defended herself with honor and valor, which had - for the first time - gained a small amount of his respect. He could not figure out whether this human wished to live or die, and that confusion both enraged and intrigued him. Should he really kill this being? He frowned and found himself unsure of what to do next. The gun hovered in his hand, loaded and ready to violently dispose of this wretched creature. But the look in her eyes sank deep into his mind. He had no soul, so to speak, so he analyzed the fading hazel. The information returned named a complexity of emotions that the agent was not quite sure he understood. Fear and pain he clearly recognized. As for humiliation and dignity, the two were intended to be opposite but were present simultaneously. Was that possible? The most obvious one of all was love. Love? The agent, for a fraction of a moment, tried his best to comprehend this. Even in this dark hour, love was hidden behind the veils of her eyes. Yes, it was love. Love for her life, love for her friends and family, love for her little angel purring softly upon her pillow at home. Love for her neighbors, her job, her landlady, Max, the incredible anomaly she was witnessing. Love. Love for everything around her, except for him. Except for the agent, of course. The agent pondered this. He could understand why she didn't love him - he was, afterall, the program sent to kill her. Who could love something like that? He was dimly aware of a small pang somewhere inside his circuits. What was it? He had never noticed or felt anything like it before. It whispered of an unnamed sentiment, something the agent was never to know of or care for.  
  
He resented the fact that this being had such capacities for emotions and feelings, even upon her deathbed. The agent valued his life and was clearly ready to defend it to the death. This being not only valued her life, but the entire world around her, down to the smallest star in the night sky. He could see the wishes for more than she had been granted in her life in her eyes, and yet she was ready to accept her self-decided fate. It was not him that made her come here, but it was her own . conscience. Conscience. That persistent, nagging feeling of right and wrong. The agent was not programmed to have a conscience. Although there was no voice inside his head, he was still debating whether to destroy her or not. That could count for something far too close to a conscience for comfort. The Miracle Glitch was working its Majick on Agent Smith. 


End file.
